View full sizeRose Stabler shows her arms after being accused of using a needle to inject drugs in the Baldwin County Courthouse in April.

BAY MINETTE, Alabama -- Rose Stabler cried today after a Baldwin County judge found her guilty of disorderly conduct and ordered her to pay $200 and court costs.

Stabler, 52, arrived 20 minutes late for her afternoon bench
trial this afternoon in Baldwin County District Court to face the charge
stemming from a disturbance at the Baldwin County Courthouse in Bay
Minette this spring.

Circuit Judge Charles Partin gave her 30 days to make payment. Partin
heard the case in place of Presiding District Judge Jody Bishop, who
recused himself.

After sentencing, the ex-wife of former football star and commentator legend Kenny Stabler called the proceedings "a joke."

"That was a travesty of justice," she said outside the courtroom.

The saga began April 13 following a hearing on a civil suit she had
against a lawyer. According to Thursday’s testimony, Stabler entered a
restroom in the courthouse following that April hearing and remained
there for a long time. An employee reported seeing her with a needle in
her arm, according to the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office. From the
hallway, Circuit Judge Robert Wilters asked her several times to come
out. When she did, the judge looked at her arms and had deputies search
her purse.

No needle was recovered at the time of the incident, the Sheriff’s Office has previously reported.

Wilters did not testify.

View full sizeA Baldwin County judge found Roase Stabler guilty of disorderly conduct and fined her $200. (Press-Register/Victor Calhoun)

Deputies, a court staffer and an assistant district attorney
testified that Stabler’s clothing was unkempt and she was unsteady, loud
and agitated and made incomplete, irrational statements when she
emerged from the restroom. Sgt. Gregory Daniels said Stabler, who was
holding a bottle of water, was flinging her arms around. He said she
refused to settle down and be quiet after numerous warnings and was
later was arrested.

Stabler testified that she takes medications for a spinal injury,
depression and the prescription pain killer OxyContin, which she had
taken the day night before the incident and another anti-depressant the
day of the hearing. She denied using illicit drugs or being intoxicated
and said she was shocked when confronted outside the restroom.

Defense attorney Jeff Deen argued that Stabler, already agitated over
the earlier civil case, had been in a stall in the restroom and neither
intentionally nor recklessly caused public annoyance or alarm, and
reasonably became upset after being called into the hallway and
questioned.

Assistant District Attorney Deidre Lee pointed out that the complaint
alleged that Stabler engaged in conduct with the intent to cause alarm
or inconvenience or recklessly created risk, which she did by failing to
comply with deputies’ orders.

After the trial, Deen expressed disappointment with the outcome.

"I don’t think (the state) established evidence of disorderly
conduct," he said, re-asserting his contention that there was no intent.

Stabler, who said Partin presided over her divorce case, said that
the incident has caused her family pain and she will likely appeal
Partin’s ruling.

"I have to because I didn’t do anything wrong," she said. "My
reputation has forever been stained. I want to clear my name. In front
of a jury, I think things may go differently."

Rose and Kenny Stabler filed for divorce in 2002. Their home on Ono Island was later sold to pay off Kenny Stabler’s tax debts after he agreed to surrender all ownership claims to the house as part of divorce proceedings in 2004, court documents show. Last year, Rose Stabler filed a lawsuit against the federal government, claiming that the IRS improperly sold the home.

Kenny Stabler was a University of Alabama football standout and starred in the NFL for 15 seasons.